Go Green!

Earth Day 2015 Message:

Since February 2014, PS 29 has diverted the following from the landfill:

30,000 pounds of food waste,

26,000 pounds of paper, and

7,000 pounds of metal, glass, and plastic

Led by our student Green Team Leaders, Ms. Tina Reres, Rhonda Keyser and other parent volunteers, School Aides, and custodians, our kids have been sorting waste in the classrooms and in the cafeteria. Supporting this work, our student leaders regularly fan out across the school, inspecting the waste-sorting habits in classrooms, hallways, the schoolyard and bathrooms to ensure that all materials are being properly sorted.

At PS 29, we are proud to be recipients of the following sustainability awards in 2014:

On this Earth Day, we want to recognize and thank you all for your stalwart, even pioneering leadership in demonstrating how an intergenerational community can band together, educate itself and begin to transform the way it relates to the earth and the environment.

The Green Committee was formed in the 2009-2010 school year, dedicated to educating and finding ways to implement environmentally friendly practices within our school building.

Go Green! works with students and the community to solidify existing and establish new recycling initiatives within the school day for students, teachers and staff as well as during all school-related events for families. Our students use compostable trays one day a week in the cafeteria and separate their food, recycling and other waste each day. We are involved with Cafeteria Culture in advocating for the elimination of styrofoam trays city wide. PS 29′s Green Team of students from each grade help build good recycling habits and mentoring skills as they monitor recycling initiatives and help teach other students the good habits we establish. Recognizing the school as part of the larger community, we offer opportunities for the school community and neighbors to re-use, re-purpose and recycle difficult-to-recycle household items by holding regular recycling and rummage events. We hope to be able to host panel discussions for the community about such topics as Carbon Sequestration around the BQE, Greening our Neighborhood’s Roofs, and Passive House Renovation. In the near future we hope to partner with local parks and/or the Department of Sanitation by creating our own pilot program to compost our cafeteria waste. Join us!

The Go Green! Committee runs many PS 29 and community events throughout the year. It is also part of many other events at PS 29.

PS 29’s Carnival: Thanks to Go Green!, The PS 29 PTA′s 2013 Spring Carnival was a nearly zero-waste event. The 500 lbs of waste collected was sorted by all attendees and guided by our student Recycling Monitors. Thanks to Build It Green and the Gowanus Canal Conservancy, we were able to compost all food waste (approximately 200 lbs) from the event. Thanks to our custodial staff, we recycled and nearly 200 lbs of metal, glass, plastic and paper waste and only 100 lbs went to the landfill after this event

PS 29′s Fall and Spring Recycling and Rummage Events: Twice a year, the PS 29 PTA′s Go Green! committee hosts a recycling event in the school yard. The Lower East Side Ecology Center and Wearable Collections collect electronics and textiles for recycling and up cycling according to the highest environmental standards, and Time Shred comes to shred paper, hard drives and CDs. Families are invited to Rummage for clothing, shoes and household textiles for $1 each. All proceeds benefit the PS 29 PTA. Bargains benefit us all!

PS 29’s Eat Pie & Shop: Thanks to Go Green!, our Green Team Leaders and our amazing custodial staff, we recycle nearly 200 lbs of metal, glass, plastic and paper waste, sent 5 bins of food waste to be converted to electricity and only 100 lbs went to the landfill after this event this year!

PS 29 Cafeteria Recycling: PS 29 is a proud winner of the 2014 Golden Apple Award – Trash Masters Super Recyclers. Our recycling efforts won two very special GrowNYC awards in 2013: Top 3 Best Recycling Education Campaign and 2nd Place in overall recycling rate (with a 146% increase!) Our students started our cafeteria recycling efforts by FlipTapStacking their trays to make them more streamlined in the garbage bags, and quickly started sorting their recycling, food and garbage waste. In February 2013, PS 29 joined the City’s food waste collection pilot.Come help us! Volunteer at lunch, or help us at events.

Green Roof: Join us as we work with our Principal to start planning our Green Roof, talk to architects and begin the process to install a green roof on our school!